This invention relates to apparatus for cascading artificial snow through the branches of a decorative tree such as Christmas tree, and more particularly, of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,234 entitled Artificial Snow Circulating Apparatus.
This patent discloses apparatus which continuously cascades artifical snow e.g. irregularly shaped particles of foamed plastic through the branches of a Christmas tree. The apparatus seeks to provide a receptacle cone of paperboard construction having an interior surface sufficiently smooth and inclined to feed snow particles downwardly into a sump portion without mechanical assistance. A blower mounted on the tree trunk has an inlet for taking up snow particles collected in the sump portion of the receptacle, and feeds an outlet conduit which channels a stream of particles to a point adjacent the top of the tree. A deflector at the top of the tree directs snow particles emanating from the outlet conduit downwardly through the branches of the tree and back toward the receptacle, where they are recircluated.
While the foregoing aparatus operates successfully, it has several drawbacks. First, the irregularly shaped particles tend to collect on the sloping interior surface of the receptacle. Also, not enough air is intaken with the particles by the blower into the inlet conduit. Lastly, the blower alone is not powerful enough to disperse properly, by means of the deflector, the snow particles.